AMD Radeon RX 5700 vs NVIDIA Tesla K80 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5700 records an average benchmark score of 22170, which places it well above the NVIDIA Tesla K80's 18866. The RX 5700 sits in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla K80 sits in the 63rd percentile.

Q: How much faster is the RX 5700 in OpenCL compute?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 5700 scores 69603 against the Tesla K80's 18620, a 273.8% advantage. This is the largest single-test gap between the two cards.

Q: Does the Tesla K80 win any benchmark comparison?

A: No. Across the two recorded head-to-head tests, the RX 5700 wins both: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. The wins tally shows 2 for the AMD card and 0 for the NVIDIA card.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to each card?

A: The RX 5700's closest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6700S (0.1% ahead), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (1.2% behind), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB (1.4% ahead), and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (1.7% behind). The Tesla K80's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (0.4% ahead), NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (0.5% behind), NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (0.9% behind), and AMD Radeon RX 6600 (0.9% behind).

Q: Which card has more memory and what type?

A: The Tesla K80 has 12 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, while the RX 5700 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. Despite the smaller capacity, the RX 5700's memory bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s versus 240.6 GB/s for the K80.

Q: What is the release timeline for these two GPUs?

A: The Tesla K80 launched on 2014-11-16, while the RX 5700 launched on 2019-07-06. Both are now listed as end-of-life products. The RX 5700 had a launch MSRP of 349 USD.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 is built on the Navi 10 chip using the RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. This is a significant generational leap over the NVIDIA Tesla K80, which uses the GK210 chip with the older Kepler 2.0 architecture on a 28 nm process. The process node difference has a direct impact on transistor density: the RX 5700 packs 10,300 million transistors into a 251 mm² die for a density of 41.0M / mm², whereas the K80's 7,100 million transistors occupy a much larger 561 mm² die, yielding only 12.7M / mm².

The RX 5700 belongs to the Navi (RX 5000) generation and follows the Vega line, with Navi II as its successor. The Tesla K80 belongs to the Tesla Kepler (Kxx) generation, succeeding Tesla Fermi and preceding Tesla Maxwell. Clock speeds reflect their different design targets: the RX 5700 runs at 1465 MHz base and 1725 MHz boost with a 1625 MHz game clock, while the K80 runs at 562 MHz base and 824 MHz boost. Memory clocks also differ sharply, with the RX 5700 using 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) GDDR6 versus the K80's 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) GDDR5.

Compute resources are arranged differently as well. The RX 5700 has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The Tesla K80 has 2496 shading units, 208 TMUs, and only 48 ROPs. Neither card includes ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The RX 5700 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the K80 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175.

The RX 5700 is a display-capable card with 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the Tesla K80 has no display outputs at all, reflecting its compute-oriented design. The RX 5700 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the K80 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Physical dimensions are similar in length (268 mm for the RX 5700, 267 mm for the K80), and both are dual-slot cards.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear overall winner for general compute and graphics workloads: the AMD Radeon RX 5700. Its average benchmark score of 22170 is 17.5% higher than the Tesla K80's 18866, and it wins both available head-to-head tests by overwhelming margins. The RX 5700's 273.8% lead in OpenCL and 235.8% lead in Vulkan are not narrow wins; they represent a completely different performance class. The percentile placement reinforces this, with the RX 5700 at the 67th percentile versus the K80's 63rd.

However, the Tesla K80 retains a niche based on memory capacity. Its 12 GB of VRAM exceeds the RX 5700's 8 GB, which can matter for workloads that need to hold very large datasets on the GPU. The K80 also has a wider 384-bit memory bus and more shading units (2496 vs 2304) and TMUs (208 vs 144). But the RX 5700's much higher clocks and newer memory technology overcome those raw resource advantages in every measured test.

Who should pick which? From the recorded data, the RX 5700 is the choice for anyone prioritizing raw throughput, modern API support (Vulkan 1.4 vs 1.2.175), display output capability, and lower power draw. The K80 is only preferable in scenarios where the 12 GB frame buffer and wider bus are essential, and where the lack of display outputs and older architecture are acceptable. The RX 5700 is also 120 W lower in TDP (180 W vs 300 W) and requires a 450 W PSU rather than 700 W.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 5700 | NVIDIA Tesla K80 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | RDNA 1.0 | Kepler 2.0 |

| Process node | 7 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 10,300 million | 7,100 million |

| Die size | 251 mm² | 561 mm² |

| Transistor density | 41.0M / mm² | 12.7M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1465 MHz | 562 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1725 MHz | 824 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) | 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) |

| Memory size | 8 GB | 12 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory bus | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 448.0 GB/s | 240.6 GB/s |

| Shading units | 2304 | 2496 |

| TMUs | 144 | 208 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| Pixel rate | 110.4 GPixel/s | 42.85 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 248.4 GTexel/s | 171.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 7.949 TFLOPS | 4.113 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 15.90 TFLOPS (2:1) | null |

| TDP | 180 W | 300 W |

| Power connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 700 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | No outputs |

| DirectX support | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_1) |

| Vulkan support | 1.4 | 1.2.175 |

| Release date | 2019-07-06 | 2014-11-16 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head data contains two tests, and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 dominates both. The first is Geekbench OpenCL, where the RX 5700 scores 69603 against the Tesla K80's 18620. That is a 273.8% delta, which is the single largest margin in any comparison available for these two cards. The RX 5700's OpenCL result is nearly four times the K80's output, evidence of the combined effect of newer architecture, higher clocks, and higher memory bandwidth. The K80's 240.6 GB/s cannot compete with 448.0 GB/s, and its 562 MHz base clock leaves it far behind.

The second head-to-head test is Geekbench Vulkan. Here the RX 5700 scores 64166, and the K80 scores 19111, a 235.8% delta. Vulkan support differs between the two as well, with the RX 5700 offering version 1.4 while the K80 only supports 1.2.175. The performance gap in Vulkan is slightly smaller than in OpenCL, but still massive. The RX 5700's 7.949 TFLOPS FP32 throughput versus the K80's 4.113 TFLOPS provides the raw compute foundation, and the RX 5700's 110.4 GPixel/s pixel rate versus 42.85 GPixel/s shows a similar advantage in rasterization-heavy tasks.

Neither card has additional benchmark entries beyond these two shared tests, so the head-to-head comparison is necessarily limited to OpenCL and Vulkan. The wins tally confirms the outcome: 2 wins for the RX 5700, 0 for the K80. The RX 5700's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6700S, scores 22154, which is 0.1% behind the RX 5700's 22170. The Tesla K80's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, scores 18789, which is 0.4% ahead of the K80's 18866. These rival positions highlight that the RX 5700 competes in a higher performance bracket entirely, even though both cards sit near the 63rd to 67th percentile range across all GPUs. The RX 5700's closest competition is within 1.7% on either side, while the K80's closest competition is within 0.9%, meaning the K80 is tightly grouped with its peers while the RX 5700 has a similar but slightly wider competitive spread.